Since the release of Group Ironman last year, we've seen hundreds of thousands of players take on the challenge of playing alone, together! You've teamed up, taken on some menacing foes and shared your resources to progress your accounts to new heights in Old School's latest game mode!
What a blast it's been so far. You should all pat yourselves on the back for the hard work you've put in!
Earlier this year, we introduced some further Group Ironman improvements. Post-launch changes included our group storage expansion overhaul, teleport shards, tweaks to the existing Player Owned Housing system and more!
Some of you might also remember that we floated the idea of untradeable item trading between group members. Our aim was to increase the mode's accessibility for teams with less available playtime. However, we've been unable to get a clear consensus on the idea, and based on feedback we've decided not to take it forward.
In the meantime, following a quick health check on the Group Iron experience, we've been cooking up ways we can offer groups more autonomy in how they want to play the game - whether this is at a hardcore level, or just casually with friends.
A common frustration we've seen from players since launch concerns the lack of flexibility when forming and swapping groups. Dedicated groups might experience burnout, resulting in one or two members becoming inactive over time, which can eventually cause them to disband.
Whatever the reason for this - we understand. You might decide that playing as a group isn't for you, real-life may choose to interfere or, frankly, you might just be sick of your team (we've been there!).
Either way, if one or two members of a group become inactive, the current system presents existing members with a rather difficult choice:
- Continue the journey as a group, competing on the HiScores without the much needed assistance of inactive team members.
OR
- Kick the inactive members. If your group is struggling, you will be able to invite a new member, but they must start a brand new GIM account, and you face the loss of prestige status.
There is currently no available option to join a different GIM team. or invite an existing GIM into your team. If you would like to continue playing on a GIM account with no group, you'll need to make a new one which only new accounts can join, or become a regular account.
At launch you expressed (valid) concerns about the system because of these restrictions. It's important to remember that the system was intentionally designed this way because it protects against the potential for boosting services. We were especially cautious about this during the design phase as this all affects HiScores and, in turn, game mode integrity.
However, change is needed because we recognise that the current system is not sustainable for many groups - especially those who just want to play Group Ironman with their friends. There is a valid need for existing GIM players to change groups, or existing GIM groups to fill their spot with someone more suitable.
So, what's changing?
We'd like to propose an alteration to the existing rule structure. We'll allow existing GIM accounts to group up. In exchange, the group would be classed as 'Unranked', meaning it would be no longer tracked on the Group Ironman HiScores.
Introducing... Unranked Group Ironman!
Unranked Group Ironman
Unranked Group Ironman is a sub-category of Group Ironman, and would allow players to invite and accept group invitations from other unranked GIM.
Should you find yourself wanting to join a new group on an existing GIM account, or to invite a new member to your group, you'll be able to seamlessly convert your GIM status to 'Unranked', allowing you to invite and accept invitations from other unranked GIM, solving the issue described above. Voila!
In return for the additional flexibility that UGIM offers, the group is removed from the GIM HiScores, freeing you from the shackles of competing with other groups! But please note: once this change is made, you will not be able to revert your status back to 'Ranked'. It's a one way street!
Under the new unranked GIM rules:
A group that invites an experienced player will:
- Become an unranked group.
- Lose prestige status (if applicable).
- This will remove any trade restrictions within their group.
- Lose hardcore status (if applicable).
- Be removed from the Group Ironman Hiscores (and every member is removed too). Players will still be able to see their individual HiScores as if they were a main account - they just won't display any changes within their group.
If you're looking to form a new unranked group:
- You'll be able to invite any type of GIM, provided they are willing to become an unranked player.
- The group will be set as unranked from the start...
- ... and it will not show up at the GIM HiScores. At all.
- Unranked groups cannot be prestige or hardcore.
If you leave an existing group, you may also choose to convert your status to an 'Unranked GIM':
- You can do this via a third option available upon leaving the group, in the interface (pictured above) where currently we offer the choice between remaining a GIM and downgrading to a main account.
- The option converts your status to an unranked GIM. This is non-reversible. You cannot revert your status back to ranked once you've become unranked.
- The option will remove you on the GIM HiScores. However, your progress will still be visible on the regular HiScores.
- The process does NOT remove your items.
There will be no trade restrictions or KC requirements for unranked groups.
Rest assured, we'll give you sufficient warnings if you're about to join an unranked group, or if your group is about to become one. Keep an eye out for these if you decide to invite players!
We're looking forward to hearing what you think about this change - we'd like to introduce it on May 25th, so please provide feedback swiftly if any further changes are needed!
Group Ironman Boss Bash
In order for the Group Ironman mode to shine, we want to promote group activities as they help to facilitate teamwork and group play - that's the essence of what being a Group Ironman is!
The upcoming changes should help to create a nicer environment for some groups because it allows existing GIM to continue their journey no matter what their team members decide to do. We also think we should provide additional incentives for people to play as a group. We'd like to explore ways of making group content a bit more worthwhile, especially if you're looking for a good excuse to play with your friends!
Although you're able to enjoy the game as its own standalone single player experience, you've also made the potential for new group activities very clear to us, and recent group content has been well received. However, we also want to give you good reason to revisit older game content.
We think it's time to get creative!
We've created a small-scale raffle for various Group Ironmen to band together and take on some formidable foes!
The raffle will see players earn points over two weeks for taking on various bosses in the game! This raffle is exclusive to Group Ironmen, but is available to all and any types of groups - unranked, ranked and hardcore.
Since this is a brand new idea, we'd like to keep this raffle exclusive to GIM-only for the time being. However we are very open to the idea of holding these small-scale raffles for other types of accounts if this is something you would like to see!
How does it work?
Points are awarded during a 2-week period for killing various bosses in-game (see table below). These points would hold no in-game value, cannot be traded, and would only be available for the duration of the raffle. We think this could provide a fun reason to log in with your friends, encouraging your buddies to take down some bosses with you!
At the end of the 2-week period, we'll randomly pick 10 lucky groups and award them with membership! We'll choose these randomly because we don't want players feeling pressured to be online 24/7. However, groups will see an increased chance of winning the more points they have accumulated!
The below table shows how many points can be won by participating in various group activities, as well as whether they will be awarded to a single player or the whole group:
| Boss | Ticket Score | Single Player | Ticket Award Conditions |
| Tempoross | 1 | N | A successful Tempoross kill, as long as the player has achieved the minimum score to receive a reward permit. |
| Wintertodt | 1 | N | A successful Wintertodt subdue, as long as the player has achieved the minimum score to receive a reward crate. |
| Zalcano | 3 | N | A successful Zalcano kill to any player who participated enough to receive loot from her. |
| Barbarian Assault | 10 | N | Defeating the penance queen on wave 10. Any player who participated in the wave in eligible. |
| Sarachnis | 1 | Y | A single player who received loot. |
| King Black Dragon | 1 | Y | A single player who received loot. |
| Dagannoth Kings | 1 | Y | A single player who received loot. Includes Dagannoth Prime, Supreme and Rex |
| Kalphite Queen | 2 | Y | A single player who received loot. |
| Godwars Bosses | 5 | Y | A single player who received loot. |
| The Nightmare | 2 | N | Any player who received loot. |
| Nex | 2 | N | Any player who receives loot. |
| Corporeal Beast | 5 | Y | A single player who received loot. |
| Chambers of Xeric | Normal Mode - 10Challenge Mode - 20 | N | Any player who received loot. |
| Theatre of Blood | Normal - 15Story Mode - 3Hard Mode M - 20 | N | Any player who received loot. |
When would this happen?
We'd love to kick this raffle off on May 25th to keep the GIM hype going! We're also happy to discuss any questions or feedback you might have about this on our Twitch livestream on Friday, May 13th.
Signing Up for the Raffle
In order to participate, you'll need to register your group for the challenge.
Registration is very simple and happens in-game. There will be a button on the GIM Settings Menu where you can click to sign-up, so no need to visit any web links. Simply click the button and get to slaying!
When you've signed up, please note that we'll need to temporarily disable some group features during the raffle, such as leaving a group and changing the group name. You may opt to leave the raffle early if you wish to re-enable these features!
Additionally, you may only register for this raffle once per account, so make sure that the team you register with is the one you intend to stick with!
Feedback Survey
We've created a short Feedback Survey to collect your feedback - please do take the time to let us know what you think! We promise it won't take long and it will be really helpful to understand if you find these types of projects valuable.
Prizes
You'll accumulate points on your account that are visible from your UI. After the 2-week raffle, we'll pick 10 winning groups!
Each individual in the group will be granted one year of membership, and one of these lucky groups will be granted lifetime membership for all of their members!
We'll contact winners in-game to arrange prize giving and to ensure they the membership they've won is applied to their desired account. If we can't reach you in a good amount of time, we'll apply membership on the account used to register in the raffle.
And that's everything! Please let us know what you think!
To summarise:
- We would like the GIM rule changes to come into effect on May 25th pending your feedback.
- We would like to run the GIM-exclusive raffle on May 25th for a duration of 2-weeks, pending your feedback.
- For now this raffle is exclusive to GIM but we are open to doing this for other types of accounts in the future.
- We are starting this with GIM is because we want to trial the idea first to see what you think.
- Feedback and questions will be addressed on our Twitch livestream Q&A on Friday, May 13th. If you can take the time to fill out this survey, we would really appreciate it and we'll be gathering questions based on your feedback and responses!
- If required, we'll also be updating this blog following your feedback. Please let us know swiftly if any changes are needed!
Terms and Conditions
A Summary of the Group Boss Bash Terms & Conditions can be found here.
The full Group Boss Bash Terms & Conditions can be found here.
You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.
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